Investing in Women in Science for an inclusive green growth

Today CROSSBOW project joins the United Nations, partners worldwide, women and girls to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science under the theme “Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth”. This Day is a reminder that women and girls play a critical role in science and technology for sustainable development globally and that their participation should be strengthened.

As United Nations point out “science and gender equality are both vital for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

With Sustainable Development Goal 9, part of the Global Goals that world leaders agreed to in 2015 with a deadline of 2030, countries around the world have pledged to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. Yet, a look at where funding is allocated a different picture. At present, only 1.7 per cent of the global GDP is dedicated for research and experimental development.

As the fourth industrial revolution starts, women still have less than two-third of the economic opportunity that men have. The jobs of the future will be driven by technology and innovation, and if the gender divide STEM is not bridged soon, the overall gender gap is likely to widen.

At present, less than 30 per cent of researchers worldwide are women. With too few women in decision making roles and higher-paying STEM jobs, the gender gap in STEM has deep implications for the future of global economy. Improved recruitment, retention and promotion policies, as well as continuous learning and up-skilling for women can go a long way towards closing this gap.

CROSSBOW contributes to close gender gap in Research and Innovation

The CROSSBOW consortium is fully aware and embrace the policies of equal opportunities between women and men, the effective promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in Research and Innovation in relation to Horizon 2020.

Therefore, the CROSBOW project applies several methods of sex and gender analysis to pay a particular attention to gender-related issues by: (a) Promoting the active involvement of women in research and management activities developed within the project; (b) Strengthening collaboration links to the prominent women scientists in the energy domain; (c) Encouraging the participation of women speakers to represent the project in conferences in Europe and overseas; (d) Ensuring the resolution of any gender related issues that may arise; (e) Rethinking the language and the visual representations in dissemination actions and activities, in order to ensure a balanced representation of genders in all images and visuals.

The CROSSBOW consortium consists of a multi-national team of both male and female experts with gender parity of sub-project managers. CROSSBOW create impact by increasing awareness of benefits of gender perspective in research, development and innovation.

In a long-term perspective, the gender mainstreaming approach will contribute to favorable conditions for innovation systems and a more sustainable society. The CROSSBOW gender mainstreaming approach follows the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), as a process where all societal actors (researchers, citizens, policy makers, business) work together during the whole R&I process in order to align R&I outcomes to the values, needs and expectations of European society, enabling easier access to scientific results, as well as the take up of gender and ethics in the R&I content and process.

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Mobility is key for increasing cross-border-cooperation and making the most of the @EUSBSR and the whole #BSR. Boris Zhelezov here presenting the importance of science mobility from Russian point of view! #BalticSeaScienceDay #BalticScienceNetwork